Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Nobody: Old Friend, New Attitude

Following their departure from Mulan's world Sombra found that things were normal, as in Fluttershy showed the newest animal to where it would be living, Radiant joined her to continue harvesting materials from the area to build many of their accessories, Sora's group returned to the cockpit, and Sombra and Seras trained for a time. It was just like the end of when they visited the worlds during their first adventure, they would relax and unwind, along with training any new skills they had picked up along the way, before worrying about whatever the next world had to throw at them. Unlike the start of their first adventure it didn't seem like the start of this one had any spells to be added to their spell tomes, and after all of the spells that they obtained over the course of their first one Sombra had to doubt that there were more for them to obtain. Plus all of them were able to share a few good meals as well, which was thanks to her skills in that regard, thus allowing everyone else to focus on whatever they preferred to focus on before they reached the next world.

Of course a few days later they found the way to the space path leading to the next world, causing Sora to pilot them into the section of space that held all sorts of enemies for him to fire at, and obstacles to navigate around, only for him and the rest of the group to find that this one was sending them through an asteroid field.

"So, they want to give me a challenge, eh? Let's play!" Sora remarked, where he navigated the ship into the asteroid field without delay, allowing everyone else to take a seat as they watched the show, since there were a number of enemy Gummi Ships flying around the area, just like before they made their way to Mulan's world.

Sombra smiled as they moved through the space, as this was where Sora shined as he tore through the enemies that were in front of them, making sure not to miss a single enemy Gummi Ship as their ship's systems claimed all of the material so she could use it to expand their home. At the same time she was pleased to see the couple of Heartless Gummi Ships that were in the area, since it allowed her to snatch their hearts as well, further depriving the Organization of the hearts Xemnas was in need of to complete his version of Kingdom Hearts. Of course she still found it amusing that the Nobody ships didn't seem annoyed by the Heartless ones, as both targeted their ship at the same time, as if to confirm that Xemnas was in control of both forces, especially after Maleficent had been wiped out, someone they might have to deal with later. The other thing that was interesting was that they were able to empower their ship enough to bring about the creation of 'Teeny Ships', smaller vessels that seemed to provide additional firepower, allowing Sora to add two such ships to their formation while quickly increasing their destructive capabilities.

In addition to that Sombra discovered that a new portion of the devices in the lower portion of the ship would allow them to portion out the new gummi materials and use them to strengthen the Teeny Ships as well, meaning once they were done expanding the main ship they could empower the newest additions.

"You've gotten better at this, Sora." Donald remarked, as that was the truth, because when they started out he had been far too worried that a young boy wouldn't have the skills to pilot their Gummi Ship and that it would end in them crashing into a world, something that ended up being his fault as he reflected on it, but now they had nothing to worry about, Sora was the king of flying through space.

"Thanks. It took some time, but I've got the hang of the ship's systems." Sora said, where he smiled for a few seconds as he brought the ship out of the space, opening another gate in the process, before they glanced at the world that was in front of them, which appeared to be a castle that wasn't like the ones they had seen so far, "Another new world? Well, this will make things much more interesting. Prepare for departure."

Sombra and the others gathered around the area that they teleported out of and found that this world didn't require any of the special disguises, like when they went to Halloween Town, though when they warped down to the castle's exterior they found that it was definitely different from the others, it was dark but not evil like Maleficient's Hollow Bastion. The main door was, interestingly enough, unlocked and there were no servants in the entry area, like the castle was a ghost town, though there was the unmistakable aura of the Heartless in the structure, meaning there were definitely foes to fight. There were a number of stone statues that looked like they might come alive at any moment, which could be possible since they had no idea what sorts of Heartless were in this world, or even Nobodies since there could be some lurking in the shadows. As she thought about that, and everyone else glanced around the area, the halls echoed with a very familiar roar, something that told them they were in the domain of a former ally, potentially even a friend, though since they were uninvited Sombra knew this could easily get ugly.

"That sounds like the Beast... this must be his home." Goofy remarked, as he recalled them hearing that Beast's world had been devoured by the Heartless, so with Seeker Ansem defeated, and his Door to Darkness sealed, it made sense that one of the worlds that would have been restored would have been his and Belle's.

"Roxas and Xion told me about this world, as they scouted it out a few times in the past." Seras commented, where Sombra nodded her head in agreement, she recalled reading about this world in Roxas' reports, now that she had connected all of the dots, even though both of them were glancing around the area, "Never thought I'd come here myself... but Xaldin was supposed to be spending some of his time on this world."

As the others opened their mouths, however, a Shadow scurried across the floor and entered one of the rooms that was in the nearby area, where they found that it was a living area since it had a fireplace, plus a few other things that included a very important looking glowing rose in a glass case. A moment later an army of Shadows started to emerge from the small patches of shadows that were around the room, though that meant nothing to the group as they summoned their various weapons and engaged them, crushing each and every Shadow that rushed at them. Sombra was expecting more types of Heartless to show up, since these ones were far too weak to do anything to her and the others, though it was just Shadows for a couple of moments, nothing else, which was actually disappointing since she had been hoping to discover the newest types of Heartless in no time. In fact none of them had to use any of their stronger moves or techniques, as their strength was more than enough to overturn the sheer numbers that their enemies possessed, eventually allowing them to clear out the room of enemies.

Following that they discovered that Beast, looking the same as the last time they had seen him, pushed open the doors to this room and walked in, though instead of being happy to see some old friends he seemed completely angry, like they were here to rob him or something like that, and when Donald approached him they found that Beast just shoved him into the ground as he walked by.

"Hey, that's not very nice!" Fluttershy stated, stepping in front of the figure for a moment, where Beast just stared at her for a few seconds before he raised his hand once more, though this time around she was more than ready for it as she called her magic and snapped a barrier into existence in front of her, stopping the attack in it's tracks.

"Well what do you know, he's got a dark miasma around him. Allow me." Sombra said, where she appeared in front of the figure as darkness surrounded her hand, which she placed on Beast's head for a few seconds, who simply stood there as the rest of the group watched as a strange darkness appeared around him for a moment and dissolved as it came into contact with Sombra's greater darkness, causing her to pull her hand back as the Beast stumbled backward, "Beast, how are you feeling?"

"Ugh... like a dark burden has been lifted from my shoulders." Beast replied, something that allowed them to see that he was surprised by the fact that they were here, in his castle no less, even though it did seem like he had been half here, like the darkness had shrouded his vision and prevented him from truly understanding what was going on.

Beast was curious as to why they were here in the first place, where Sora told him that they were hunting Heartless and the path had brought him to this place, which was mostly the truth, though they did assist him in moving his rose back to his bedroom, the chamber that it should have been resting in. Sombra made sure to enchant the case with a spell that would protect it from unwanted individuals, like Xaldin if he was still on this world, though before heading to Beast's room there was a stop he wanted to make in the other wing of his castle, he wanted to check on Belle. Such a thing allowed them to find what Sombra had been expecting earlier, there were a few new Heartless in the form of bats with a hook on their tail, so she called them 'Hook Bats', though they were weak and didn't offer much when Sombra tasted one of their hearts. On the way to Belle's room they also found a few more new Heartless, the animated gargoyle states they had seen, some looking like warriors and others looking like knights, so 'Gargoyle Warriors' and 'Gargoyle Knights', but they were apparently Purebloods, so there were no hearts to gain from them.

That was a shame in Sombra's mind, because she was sure that the two types of gargoyle Heartless in this castle could have had the potential to give her a new skill, a weak one capable of growing into something greater, but since they didn't have hearts she simply turned her focus towards the other enemies as they reached their destination.

Belle, wearing more commoner looking clothing, was both understanding of Beast's position and annoyed by what he had done to his own people, as they were apparently locked in the dungeon, causing the large figure to hang his head in shame as he realized what he had done. Sombra figured the pair could spend a few moments alone if they wanted, though Beast walked out after a few minutes with his eyes full of determination, leading them into the other wing of his castle, where they would drop off the rose before delving into the dungeon to save the servants. Sure enough they discovered that more of the two types of gargoyle Heartless lined the walls of the hallways they were traveling down, plus a few Hook Bats, Shadows, and Large Bodies, before they eventually found a wardrobe that had eyes and seemed to be blocking a door. In that moment it became easy for Sombra to understand everything as the piece of furniture talked to Beast, this entire place was cursed, all of the people were cursed, and Belle was the key to Beast breaking the curse that had been placed on everything, no doubt due to his past actions.

After talking to the wardrobe they were allowed into the dungeons, which seemed to be a small area with a locked door that was possessed by a Heartless that animated two stone icons on it to be it's protectors, twisting them into dark creatures who held onto the lock and attacked at the same time, causing Sombra to let out a sigh.

"It's a Pureblood... how unfortunate." Sombra commented, because that meant she would get nothing from it, though that didn't stop her and the others from drawing their weapons and attacking the two dark figures, since they had to get inside the room that they were protecting.

As it turned out the 'Thresholder' was weak, they beat the stuffing out of them and stunned them, opening the way for Sora to release a burst of light that freed the 'Possessor', which was a dark orb that served as the heart of the entire door and just floated around the room after it was released. When the Possessor was out and about a few Gargoyle Knights and Warriors showed up to fight them, though when the Thresholder was being powered they simply dodged the incoming attacks and struck it repeatedly, until forcing out the core again. With their combined power the Pureblood Heartless stood no chance and was banished accordingly, allowing them to enter the room that they had been guarding, where the group found that the servants were a talking candle, a talking clock, and a talking teapot with a smaller teacup. This all but confirmed Sombra's thoughts, they were definitely the servants since they addressed Beast as 'Master', meaning that their goal was the hope that he was able to break the curse before the rose's last petal fell, no doubt by being loved by someone who saw who he really was.

While everyone was chatting, Beast trying to figure out what he had done under the dark haze, Sombra felt a sudden shift in the wind and turned her head for a moment, since there wasn't supposed to be any down here, before glancing at Seras for a moment, who nodded.

"It would seem that Xaldin let one more Heartless into the castle." Seras stated, where Beast growled, confirming that he must have had contact with the Organization member that had been assigned to this world, something that caused them to rush out of the dungeon and head back to the main chamber of the castle.

There they found that Belle was entering the ballroom and followed her inside, where they discovered that she was actually fleeing from a large Darkball that had chains and horns, where Sombra called it 'Shadow Stalker' as they readied themselves for another battle. What she discovered was that it was like the Possessor, but instead of being bound to the massive room, as that was what the Pureblood decided to bond with since everything darkened when it struck the ground, this one was able to float about and attack them however it wanted. By that she meant it changed the pillars into spikes that were more flexible than she was expecting and it twisted the chandelier into a weapon, but the only thing it couldn't do was increase the number of allies as it had, as it was just it verses the rest of the group. When they dealt enough damage to it the Shadow Stalker shrouded itself in darkness before transforming into a larger beast type of Pureblood, with deep red hair and sharp claws, though while it was impressive in this form it's power really wasn't much greater than it's previous form.

The 'Dark Thorn' really didn't stand much of a chance against them, especially when they cleared out so Sora could drop the chandelier on top of the Heartless and spin it around before tossing it into a wall for everyone to attack it, and with their combined power they were able wipe out the Heartless, restoring the chamber to normal in no time.

"Thank you, friends. I owe you greatly for helping me save Belle." Beast replied, as he was far more grateful that they had been able to save the girl that had caused him to see that there was more to the world that he originally thought, while at the same time devaluing himself since he really didn't deserve to be on Belle's level.

Sora said that it was no big deal and found that there was a light coming from the ceiling, allowing him to fire another beam of light to unlock another pathway in space, causing them to wish Beast and Belle well as they departed from the castle, as normal people, before teleporting back to the ship as they looked forward to what the next world had to offer them.

Comments

[Xalok]

Having someone who knows darkness as well as Sombra will cuts down time needed to deal with stuff.

[Hexan Tronic]

Such a waste of a world for Sombra. Only really the Hook Bats gave anything. Maybe they give something special at some point.